Shadows in the Night
by redsandman99
Summary: Jeff and Randy have finally found happiness. But a returning Tomko and a crazed stalker are determined to put an end to that happiness. Sequel to Crash and Burn.
1. Chapter 1

It was not possible for Randy to be anymore nervous than he was right at that moment. He had something very big planned for Jeff tonight and he wanted everything to be as perfect as possible. He had enlisted the help of Mickie, Lillian and Katie Lea to help him get ready, mainly because he could not cook to save his life. Unfortunately, Ted, Cody and Mike somehow heard about his plans and decided to come and help.

"What you need Randy, is candles," Ted said. He surveyed the room carefully. "Lots and lots of candles all around the house."

Cody shook his head. "Sweetheart, this house has already burnt down once. Tons of candles is probably not good idea."

"How about I just do some candles," Randy suggested. "Some in the dining room, living room and bedroom. That's the only places I plan on going tonight."

Katie grabbed the box she had brought with her. "Speaking of the bedroom, I brought these." She opened the box and pulled out some red silk sheets. "I figured these will help the mood."

"Thanks Katie," Randy said.

Mike handed over a bag he had brought with them. "Here, take these too. These will definitely help the mood."

Randy opened the bag and sighed. Inside of it was an assortment of sex toys. "Mike, this is supposed to be a romantic night. How does all this lead to romance?"

Mike rolled his eyes. "Come on Randy. Spicing up your relationship can be totally romantic."

"You are an idiot," Cody said to Mike.

Randy shook his head and went upstairs. He put the silk sheets on the bed and then put the regular sheets and the bag of toys in the closet. Then he grabbed some candles and put them at different places around the room. He didn't light them yet though. He would wait a little longer to do that.

When he got back downstairs, he found Cody and Ted taking a peek at the rose petals that still had to be spread all around the house. "Damn Randy," Cody said in amazement. "You got all these just for a random romantic night in?"

"First of all, it's not a random romantic night," Randy said. He took the bag from them so they wouldn't go and spill the petals everywhere. "I have a plan. A big plan that needs to be perfect."

"Well that was nice and cryptic," Ted remarked.

Lillian came out of the kitchen. "Randy, is the reason you're going to all this trouble is because you want to take Jeff's mind off of Tomko?"

Randy sighed. The resigning of Christian's former "problem solver" had definitely caused Jeff a great deal of stress lately. Vine had reassured everyone that Tomko had changed his ways, but Randy wasn't convinced. The man had to be evil if he was willing to take orders from the likes of Christian and Kurt Angle. "It's not just that. I just want to have a nice night where he doesn't have to feel the pressure of being WWE champion and you know, we haven't had a romantic night in forever and holy shit I have about thirty minutes until he gets home." He smacked himself on the head. He had completely lost track of time. "Okay people, we've got to haul ass."

Lillian and Mickie quickly finished up in the kitchen and they left along with everyone else. Randy somehow managed to get the rose petal trail set up, the table set, the candles lit and his clothes changed before Jeff got home. It was close though; Jeff walked in the house just as Randy was coming back down the stairs.

"Holy crap," Jeff said. He looked completely surprised by what he had come home to. "Randy what--"

"Surprise baby," Randy interrupted. He wrapped his arms around Jeff and gave him a kiss. "Did Matt keep you busy?"

"Yeah," Jeff said. His eyes suddenly widened. "You asked him to keep me busy so you can set this up."

Randy grinned and nodded. "I wanted to surprise you." He grabbed Jeff's hand and took him to the kitchen.

"Now I know you didn't make all this," Jeff said when he saw all the food that was waiting for them. "You nearly started a fire when you tried to make cookies."

"Mickie and Lillian made it," Randy confessed. He pointed to the bottle of wine that was sitting on the table. "I did buy that though."

Jeff laughed. "Now that I can believe."

After they ate dinner they went into the living room. Randy put on some music and they danced slowly to the music. "So what's this all about?" Jeff asked. "What are you up to Mr. Orton?"

Randy smiled. "Who says I have to be up to something?"

"Come on Randy. I can tell when you're planning something."

"Okay, okay, I am planning something," Randy admitted. He let go of Jeff and turned off the music. The moment of truth had arrived. "The other day I had an interview with WWE magazine. They asked me what the future held for me. Now they were talking about my career, but all I could think about was you. I can't see a future without you." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small blue box. "That's why I need to know something." He got down on one knee and opened the box, revealing a diamond engagement ring. "Will you marry me?"

Jeff's jaw dropped open in shock. For several long seconds, neither of them said anything. Then Jeff nodded his head. "Yes," he said breathlessly. "Yes."

Randy slipped the ring on to Jeff's finger. Words couldn't describe how happy he felt right at that moment. In his mind, nothing could ruin this moment.

But little did he know, they were being watched by somebody possibly even more dangerous than a vengeful Tomko. And little did they know, that this person did not like what he had just witnessed. He didn't like it one little bit.


	2. Chapter 2

Jeff felt like he was on top of the world. He and Randy were engaged. He felt like going on top of the roof and shouting incoherently just for the hell of it. Actually, he was currently bouncing around the arena, singing random songs that popped into his head. He couldn't help himself. He was just so happy.

"Uh oh, I think somebody got into the sugar again," Hunter said as Jeff walked by him.

Jeff stuck his tongue out. "I did not get into the sugar. I'm just really, really happy."

Hunter grinned. "Yeah, I bet you are. I heard about you and Randy. Congratulations."

"Thanks man." Jeff smiled when he saw Randy approaching him. "Hey baby."

Randy looked like something was bothering. "You got another letter from X."

Jeff frowned. X was some strange fan that had been writing to him for a couple of months now. At first the letters had seemed like all the other fan mail he received. But lately, the letters had been getting progressively stranger and stranger.

"You don't have to read it," Randy told him as he opened it. Randy did not like X. He said X was a whacko.

"It'll just bother me if I don't," Jeff replied. He unfolded the letter and read it carefully. "Holy shit, he muttered.

_Jeff,_

_Why can't you see what's right in front of you? I'm not that far away. I stand in the shadows, waiting for my chance in the spotlight. I'm not what people think I am. I'm not psycho, the whacko and whatever else people call me. I'm just a freak and an artist--like you. Randy, Matt, and all the others don't understand guys like us. They can't understand guys like that. Yet you insist on trying to live in their world, loving a man who can't love you as much as I can. I hope you can see the light. I'm praying you can, because I have a bad feeling this will all blow up in your face sooner or later._

_X_

"What in the hell is this shit?" Randy said. He had been reading the letter over Jeff's shoulder. "Is this guy a stalker or something?"

Jeff shuddered. He didn't want to think about that. The letter itself was disturbing on its own; the thought of X stalking him made him really, really nervous. "How does he know about us Randy?" he asked. "I mean, we're open with our relationship, but most fans don't even know we're gay."

Randy bit his lip. "I know, which makes me think X is taking too much of an interest in you." He took the letter and put it in his back pocket. "I think we need to keep this for evidence."

"Evidence?"

"What if this guy is dangerous Jeff? What if he tries something?"

"Uh guys?" Hunter said slowly. "I think we have a more immediate problem at the moment."

Jeff looked at what Hunter was staring at and almost groaned out loud. Tomko was coming towards them. A jolt of fear went through him. Tomko had been at Christian's trial and Jeff remembered the look of hatred he had received from him. The two of them had never liked each other, and AJ Styles had called to warn him that Tomko had been worse than ever since Christian had been found guilty.

"Hello Randy," Tomko said. He nodded at Jeff. "Hello Killer."

Jeff flinched. He knew Tomko and Christian were upset about Adam's death. It didn't matter to them that Jeff was only acting in self defense; in their minds, Jeff had not only murdered Adam, but managed to get away with it. That was what really pissed them off.

Randy stepped in front of Jeff. "Do you have a problem Tomko?" he growled.

Tomko smirked. "Not yet. But believe me, I'll let you know when I do." He waved at Jeff and then walked away.

"I never liked him," Hunter muttered. "I don't know why Vince rehired him."

Jeff didn't know either, but he had every intention of finding out before something bad happened.

XXXXX

X watched the little confrontation between Tomko, Randy and Jeff. It made his blood boil. His Jeff was scared of Tomko. He would have to keep his eye on the big man. Nobody was going to hurt his Jeff. Not while he was around.

He got even angrier as he watched Randy pull Jeff into a tight embrace. The Legend Killer had everything he wanted. He had Jeffery Nero Hardy, the man he had loved for the past eight years. He had started watching wrestling just because of Jeff, and he would do anything to be able to call Jeff's his own.

Even if that meant getting rid of Randy in the most permanent way possible.


	3. Chapter 3

"We have to decide where we're having the wedding," Randy said. He and Jeff were sitting in the backseat of the van John had rented. They, along with John, Mickie, Kofi and Phil were going to see Mark. Nobody had seen Mark in two weeks. He had called a couple of times but now he wasn't even doing that. They had tried to ask Glenn what was going on but he had disappeared too. That had made them worry even more.

Jeff sighed. He never knew a wedding took so much planning. They had to decide where they were having it, what they were wearing, who was performing the ceremony, who was going to be the wedding party, who was going to be invited and a thousand other things he didn't even want to think about.

"Why don't you just have it at the Imagi-Nation?" Phil suggested.

Jeff and Randy looked at each other. That was brilliant. Why hadn't they thought of that before? Simultaneously, they reached up and planted a kiss on Phil's head.

"Hey!" Kofi objected. He glared at the both of them. "Hands off my man."

"Sorry Kofi," Jeff said. He reached into his bag and pulled out his wedding check list. "We can just cross that part off this thing," he said. He did just that and then looked at Randy. "You know how the bride usually tosses the bouquet to all her bridesmaids and the groom tosses the garter belt to the other dudes?"

Randy nodded. "Yeah."

"Well, since we don't have a bride, the garter thing won't really work and I'm not carrying a thing of flowers around, I think we need to toss something else."

"Like what?"

"I was thinking I could throw a bag of Skittles and you…well I don't know what you could throw. Maybe you could toss a beer or something."

Randy stared at him for several minutes. "Let me get this straight: you want to throw beer and Skittles at our wedding?"

Jeff nodded. It may have been an unconventional idea, but he liked beer and Skittles, so it worked.

John pulled the car into Mark's driveway. They all got out of the van and knocked on the door. "Poppa Mark!" Jeff yelled. "Open up! It's your favorite person in the whole world!"

Mickie peered into the window. "Guys, it's completely dark in there. I don't think he's home."

"But where else can he be?" Kofi asked. "He and Glenn wouldn't just run off on some vacation without telling us."

"He's in the hospital."

They all turned around and saw Mark's neighbor Mrs. Bosch looking at them. "Who's in the hospital?" Randy asked.

"Mark," Mrs. Bosch answered. "Glenn had to take him there nearly a week ago. Didn't he tell you?"

Jeff's eyes widened. Mark was sick? Mark never got sick. Mark was the one who took care of them when they got sick. How could he get sick?

"Come on," John ordered. "We're going to see him."

Nobody said a word all the way to the hospital. Jeff gripped Randy's hand tightly. Every single terrible possibility of what was wrong with Mark ran through his head. Why would Mark keep this a secret? Why didn't Mark tell anybody he was sick? Didn't he think they were strong enough to handle it?

Once they got to the hospital, a nurse told them Mark was in room 306. They ran all the way there, but came to a halt when they actually entered the room. Mark and Glenn were holding hands, and both looked like they had been crying. Jeff gulped. He had never seen them cry before. This wasn't a good sign.

Eventually Mark looked up and saw them standing there. "How did you guys--"

"Mrs. Bosch told us," Randy quickly explained. "Mark, what's wrong? Why didn't you tell us you were sick?"

Glenn shook his head. "Guys, right now isn't--"

"No," Mark interrupted. "They have to know. Jeff, can you come here?"

Jeff didn't want to go over there. He was afraid of whatever the hell it was Mark wanted to tell him. But despite his reluctance, he did what Mark asked. "Yeah?"

Mark grabbed his hand. "I've been having headaches for awhile now and I collapsed on Friday morning. The doctors did some test and they discovered…they discovered…" it was killing him to get the words out "that I have brain cancer."

Jeff felt like he got punched in the stomach. Brain cancer. The very thing that had killed his mother. He couldn't breathe. His world had turned upside down. Mark had cancer. This was not possible. This couldn't be happening.

"The doctor said that the tumor is operable," Mark went on. He had noticed Jeff's reaction. "The surgery has its risks, but that and some chemotherapy should fix me."

So there was a chance. There was a chance that things were going to be okay. Jeff tried to cling to that hope. He had to be strong for Mark. Mark needed him to be strong now more than ever. But try as he might, all he could think about was the fact that his mom had died of the same thing Mark had now. His eyes filled with tears and his lip quivered. _Don't you do it,_ his mind warned him. _Don't you dare start crying right now. That's not going to help anything._

Jeff looked away from Mark, hoping that would stop the tears. It didn't though. They came out anyway, and he found Mark pulling him into a tight embrace. That just made him cry even harder. They couldn't lose Mark. He was their father in the WWE. What would they do without him?

What would Jeff do without him?


	4. Chapter 4

Randy couldn't sleep. All he could think about was Jeff. The news about Mark had devastated him. They had the next couple of days off, so they could be at the hospital for Mark's surgery (which was scheduled for the next day). But he knew deep down that there wasn't much they could do besides offer moral support. This was a battle that Mark had to fight for himself. Randy knew if anyone could fight back and beat the cancer, it was Mark. The man was even stronger than anyone actually knew. But it was convincing Jeff this that was the problem. Jeff was terrified of losing Mark in the same manner that he had lost his mother. With the exception of Glenn, he relied on Mark the most.

Jeff began crying in his sleep. He had been making whimpering noises for a few minutes, so Randy wasn't surprised the crying had started. "Jeff wake up," he said gently. He rubbed Jeff's back and kissed his forehead. "It's just a dream honey. Come on, wake up sweetie."

Jeff woke up violently, nearly jumping off the bed. His body was drenched in cold sweat. "Randy?" he whispered after taking several deep breaths.

"I'm here baby," Randy assured him. "Was it a bad dream?"

Jeff nodded. "It was terrible. I was watching the doctors do Mark's surgery and something went wrong and there was so much blood everywhere. It was everywhere Randy and then Mark died." He buried his head in Randy's chest. "He died in my dream. That means he can really die."

"He's not going to die," Randy said. "Mark is way too damn stubborn to do that. We could probably shoot him in the head a dozen times and he would get up ten seconds later and choke slam us through a wall."

"You think so?" Jeff asked with a small laugh.

"I know so." Of course, Randy really doubted Mark would survive twelve bullets to the brain, but he wasn't going to tell Jeff that. Details like that were best not shared when your fiancé was on the verge of losing it.

A thump from outside their door made them both sit up. "What the hell was that?" Jeff whispered.

"I don't know," Randy replied. He got out of bed and opened the door. There was nobody out in the hotel hallway, but a piece of paper had been pushed under the crack of the door. "What the hell is this?" He picked it up and unfolded it. It was another letter from X.

_Jeff,_

_I know Mark's recent illness has caused you tremendous distress, considering that your mother suffered from the same thing before she died. While it pains me to see you cry, you must realize that this might actually be a sign from God. It is a sign that you should distance yourself from Mark and them, because they will only leave you in the end. I know how it feels to be abandoned and I don't wish that same heartache for you. I'm watching over you as best as I can, but I can only do so much from a distance. Maybe it is time I get a little closer._

_Sincerely, _

_X_

"What the fuck is this shit?" Randy said in disbelief. He looked around the hallway again, but there was still no sign of anybody. This was too creepy for his taste. X was in the mother fucking hotel with them. This new letter all but said that. And not only was he in the hotel, but he knew what room they were staying in. That was something Randy was not going to deal with.

"What's wrong?" Jeff asked as Randy came back in the room.

"Pack your stuff," Randy ordered. He grabbed his suitcase and started tossing his stuff into it. "We have to get out of here."

"But why?"

Randy handed over the letter. "That bastard X is watching us. He's in the hotel right now."

Jeff read the letter, his jaw dropping in shock as he did so. "Who is this guy?" he asked. "What does he want?"

"You apparently," Randy replied. "But he's not going to get you, because we're going to get this thing taken care of first thing in the morning. The last thing we need right now is for this bastard to keep following us around."

XXXXXXX

X looked through one of his Jeff photo albums. He had three of them and he took them wherever he went. Some of the photos were ones he had found on the internet but a lot of them were his own work. He liked taking pictures of Jeff. Sure, he had to cut Randy out of most of the photos but that was okay. He could deal with that for now.

He looked out his window, which was overlooking the hotel parking lot. He wasn't surprised to see Randy and Jeff getting into their car. His last letter was meant to scare Randy. He wanted the Legend Killer to know he was close. He wanted Randy to feel threatened.

He grabbed his camera and managed to take a picture of Jeff before Randy drove away. He smiled to himself and rested his head against the window. "Oh Jeff," he said with a sigh. "It won't be too much longer now. You're going to be mine, all mine."


	5. Chapter 5

Jeff tapped his foot impatiently. Mark had been in surgery for an hour now and he was getting more and more worried by the second. "Something's gone wrong."

Mickie sighed. "Jeff, these things take a long time. You just have to be patient."

"But--"

"You know, you're not making things any easier for me kid," Glenn snapped.

Jeff looked down. He wasn't trying to make Glenn feel bad. It was just that he was so scared and he hated that everybody was just sitting there and not saying anything about it. Even Randy was off in his own little world. It was frustrating the hell out of him.

"So did you get that X thing taken care of?" Lillian asked. It was obvious she was just trying to make small talk.

Randy shrugged. "It's being investigated. It doesn't help that we don't know his real name and there's no return address on the letters."

"Well generally stalkers don't want you to know who or where they are until they want you to," Morrison added helpfully.

Jeff sighed. He didn't want to talk about X. He was sick and tired of talking about X. He tapped his foot impatiently, trying to will time to go faster.

"Jeff, don't you have your PSP with you?" Phil finally asked almost ten minutes later.

"It's in the car."

"Well can't you go get it? That tapping is really starting to drive me nuts."

Randy glared at Phil. "He doesn't have to get it if he doesn't want to."

"No, I'll get it," Jeff mumbled. "I need some air anyway." He got up and left before Randy could say anything else. He shoved his hands deep inside his pockets. Maybe playing with his PSP would take his mind off of how fucking slow time seemed to be going. Honestly, if he hadn't checked everybody else's watches, he could have sworn the clock in the waiting room was broken.

He opened the back door and grabbed his bag that was sitting on the floor. After several minutes of digging, he found what he needed. He threw the bag back on the floor and was backing up so he could close the door when he ran into something. Actually, it was someone, and it definitely wasn't a good someone.

"Hello Jeff," Tomko said. That little pleasantry contained a whole lot of menace in it.

Jeff gulped. "What are you doing here?"

Tomko smirked before violently pushing Jeff into the car. Jeff quickly tried to bail out the other door but Tomko was on him in an instant. They struggled for a minute, but Tomko ultimately got Jeff pinned down.

"Get off of me!" Jeff yelled. He looked around desperately. They were in a middle of a crowded hospital parking lot in broad daylight. There had to be somebody around that could help him.

"I think you and I have some business to discuss," Tomko said.

"What business?"

"Adam and Christian. One's dead and the other is in jail and you're responsible for both of those things. But since the law won't deal with you, it looks like I'm going to have to do it."

Jeff's eyes widened. This couldn't be happening. Not again. He struggled wildly but he knew it was useless. Tomko was much bigger and stronger than he was. There was no way he was getting out of this.

The door by Jeff's head opened. "Get the hell off him!" Randy yelled as he delivered a punch right to Tomko's face. This knocked Tomko enough off balance to allow Jeff to scoot out from underneath the big man and latch on to Randy.

"You little fucker," Tomko growled. He looked up at Randy, who was shielding Jeff protectively. "I'm gonna--"

He didn't get to finish that sentence. The other passenger's door opened and somebody easily dragged Tomko out of the car. Randy and Jeff ran around to the other side to get a better look at what was going on. A man, smaller than Tomko, but a couple inches taller than Jeff and Randy was kicking the crap out of Christian's former problem solver. He was scrawny, and he had a mess of long black hair that looked like it hadn't been washed in months. He also had a tattoo on the side of his face.

It was a giant, black X.

Jeff held on to Randy tightly. "Why did you follow me out here?" he asked quietly.

"I had a bad feeling," Randy replied. "I thought if X was still following us, he would take you as soon as you were alone. I wasn't really expecting to see Tomko." He frowned as X continued his assault on Tomko. "I wasn't really expecting to see this either."

X looked up and stared directly into Jeff's eyes. Jeff immediately took a step back. There was something wrong with the man's eyes. They lacked any form of sanity. _Oh great, he's probably crazier than we thought_.

Randy stepped directly in front of Jeff so he couldn't see X's eyes anymore. "X, as much as we appreciate you kicking the shit out of Tomko, you need to stop following us. This shit isn't funny anymore.

X seemed to disagree. He started laughing insanely, sending shivers up Jeff's spine. "Randy," Jeff whispered.

Randy grabbed Jeff's arm and quickly got them back inside the hospital. He was obviously just as spooked as Jeff was. "That was way too much," he muttered.

The doctor was just walking away from the others by the time they got back in there. "He's okay!" Cody said happily. "Mark's okay!" He and the others were too busy celebrating to notice the looks on Jeff's and Randy's faces.

Jeff sighed in relief. At least something good came out of today. "We can't tell the others what happened," he whispered to Randy as they all headed up to Mark's room. "They don't need anything spoiling the moment right now."

Randy nodded. "Okay, but you're staying at my side as much as humanly possible. What just happened in that parking lot can't happen again. We might not get so lucky next time."

And that was the part that scared Jeff the most.


	6. Chapter 6

"Where the hell are Phil and Kofi?" Randy growled. He was trying to get ready for his match tonight and he couldn't do that when the two people he was trying to trust with Jeff's safety hadn't shown up yet.

Jeff looked up from the magazine that he was reading. "Calm down baby. They'll be here soon."

"Not soon enough," Randy muttered. He had been deadly serious about not letting Jeff be alone at any time. Having Tomko and X after his future husband had him completely on edge.

At that moment, Phil and Kofi came in, only to be closely followed by the Big Show. "We stopped and got some extra protection," Phil explained, pointing to Big Show.

Randy nodded in approval. "Brilliant." He grabbed his water bottle and took a drink of it. "Ugh, it's not cold anymore."

"That's because you left it in here while we spent that half hour walking around the arena," Jeff reminded him. "I told you to just get a new one."

"No time for that now." Randy got up and kissed Jeff. "I've got to go."

"Kick Batista's ass Randy!" Kofi cheered as he left.

"Make him bleed Orton!" Phil added.

Randy shook his head. "Those two are so dumb."

The match went as well as it could, considering that Batista was hurt and Randy was preoccupied with worrying about Jeff. Randy won with the RKO and then all but ran to the back. Jeff was fine; neither Tomko or X had tried to go after him at all. _Maybe I should employ the Big Show more often_, Randy thought to himself.

"Hey, we're meeting the others at a club tonight," Phil told Randy and Jeff. "We're celebrating Mark's surgery for him since he's not up to doing it himself yet. You guys want to come?"

Randy took another drink out of his old water bottle. The only reason he did it was because he was dying of thirst. "You up for it?" he asked Jeff.

Jeff nodded. "Yeah. I could use some fun."

After quickly rinsing off in the shower, Randy and Jeff dropped their things off at the hotel and then followed Phil and Kofi to the club. It was like almost every other club they had been to before: dark, crowded, noisy and filled with booze. Randy kept a tight grip on Jeff's hand as Phil led them to the table the others had saved for them.

"Okay people, listen up," John ordered. "We've got two bottles of tequila, salt and lemons. We will not stop drinking until all of this is gone. And if we are not completely plastered by then, we will get more booze until that plastered thing happens."

Randy frowned. "If we're all getting completely plastered, then how are we getting back to the hotel?"

"Don't ask questions Randy. Just drink up."

Mickie sighed and shook her head. "You'll have to forgive him. He's been looking for any excuse to get drunk off his ass."

"Actually, I don't have to forgive him," Randy replied. "But I will take that booze."

So they drank those two bottles of tequila. Not satisfied with their level of intoxication at that point, John got them another two bottles. Needless to say, Randy was feeling out of it by the end of that fourth bottle.

"I want to dance," Jeff said. He got up and pulled on Randy's hand. "Dance with me."

Randy let himself be led out to the dance floor, barely aware that John and Mickie were right behind them. He wrapped his arms around Jeff as he danced, his head swimming from all the alcohol. Jeff was all over him. The Rainbow Haired Warrior always got a little overly affectionate when he was really, really drunk.

All sense of time was lost to Randy. He could see Mickie, John, Katie and Matt all dancing near him. Ted, Cody, Kofi and Phil were up on the bar, making complete asses out of themselves. Jeff was still all over him, leaving large hickeys all over his neck. Yet something was wrong. He felt incredibly hot, and it wasn't just from the alcohol and the bright lights. It felt like his entire body was baking in an oven or something. His legs felt weak and a terrible pain was going through his stomach. "Oh no."

Jeff pulled away from him. "What's wrong?"

Randy couldn't answer him. He stumbled as fast as he could to the bathroom, barely making it to one of the stalls before he threw up. He puked until it hurt, and then he did it some more. Jeff rubbed his back the entire time, trying to be comforting. "Holy shit," Randy muttered as he stood up. He flushed the toilet and stood up. His legs still felt like pudding.

"Are you okay?" Jeff asked.

Randy started to reply when he lurched forward and spit out a mouthful of blood. He collapsed to the floor, his body moving uncontrollably and more and more blood coming out through his mouth. He could barely hear Jeff yelling his name. All he could focus on was on how bright the blood seemed to be. _Didn't Mick Foley always used to say internal blood was the brightest_? That he was last coherent thought before he lost sense of everything except his pain.


	7. Chapter 7

Sheer panic was running through Jeff's veins. "Randy!" he yelled. He tried to hold Randy, but that was barely manageable. Randy was convulsing was only growing worse and worse. Crying uncontrollably, Jeff managed to pick Randy up and take him out of the bathroom. "Matt!" he shouted desperately. "Matt help!"

Matt looked over and saw what was going on. "What happened?" he yelled as he ran over.

Jeff shook his head. "I don't know. He threw up and then he started having a seizure and spitting up blood." He let out a cry as Randy started coughing up even more blood. "Oh God," he moaned.

Matt immediately started helping Jeff with keeping a hold of Randy. "Tell the others we're going to the hospital!" he yelled at Katie. Then the two brothers ran out of the club and got into Matt's car. "I hope to God we don't get pulled over," Matt muttered as he shot right out of the parking lot. "Because I'm about to break every traffic law known to man."

Jeff held on to Randy tightly. Randy's body was flushed and his skin was almost too hot to touch. "He's burning up Matt," he said. He tried to use his free hand to fan Randy off, even though he knew it wasn't really going to do much good.

Matt reached forward and grabbed a bottle of Pepsi. "Here. This is still kind of cold."

Jeff took it and pressed it against Randy's forehead. Randy whimpered. His breathing was becoming labored. "Hold on baby," Jeff begged. "Please hold on."

With the way Matt was driving, they got to the hospital in about five minutes. "We need help!" Matt shouted as they carried him inside. "Our friend is dying!"

Jeff really wanted to hit Matt for saying that, but it certainly made the nurses move a hell of a lot faster. "What happened?" one of them asked as they brought out a stretcher.

Matt and Jeff explained what happened at the club as best as they could. This entire situation had a great big sobering effect on the both of them. The nurses wheeled Randy away and then there was nothing to do but wait. "You know, I'm really, really starting to hate hospitals," Matt muttered.

Jeff couldn't even bring himself to nod in agreement. He was too worried about Randy. What in the hell could have caused this? What could have hurt his baby like that? Was it the alcohol? No, it couldn't be just that--they had all drank the same amount and none of them were sick. So what could it be?

Suddenly something dawned on Jeff. The water bottle from the arena. Randy had left that unattended for way too long. It would have been easy for somebody to go into the locker room and slip some kind of tasteless poison into the bottle. But why would anyone want to try to kill Randy? There was no reason to do that…unless they wanted him out of the way to get to Jeff.

Jeff shuddered. He knew both X and Tomko both wanted to get to him. But he had a feeling this wasn't the work of Tomko. Tomko was a brute; sneaking around and poisoning people wasn't his style. So that just left X. Jeff remembered how crazy X looked when he and Randy had encountered him. If he wanted Jeff as badly as he claimed he did, he would do anything to get Randy out of the way--even if it involved murder.

The others arrived and they joined in on the waiting game. After what felt like forever, a doctor came out to talk to them. "Is there a family member of Randy Orton's out here?" the doctor asked.

Jeff immediately jumped to his feet. "How is he?" he asked. "Is he going to be okay?"

The doctor sighed. "I'm not going to lie, he's still in pretty bad shape. He somehow managed to ingest some kind of poison and the alcohol in his system only made it worse. We've managed to find an anecdote that seems to be working, but it's safe to say he won't be out of the woods until morning."

"Can we see him?" Jeff asked.

The doctor nodded and led them to Randy's room. Poor Randy was hooked up to all kinds of IV's and he had a breathing tube in his mouth. Jeff choked back tears and took one of his lover's hands. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "Please don't die baby. I didn't mean to bring this on you."

000000000

X was not pleased when he heard that Randy was still alive. That damn poison had worked, but it hadn't worked well enough. He punched the wall a few times before forcing himself to calm down. "Calm down," he told himself. "Just calm down." All this meant was that he was going to have to change the plan up a little bit. That was okay. He was good at that. Besides, getting Jeff was going to make all this trouble worth it.


	8. Chapter 8

Jeff couldn't sleep at all. He was too worried about Randy. Even with the anecdote working, Randy's fever was still high. "Come on baby," he whispered. He was trying to not wake up the others. "Come back to me."

Randy didn't open his eyes though. He was out cold. Jeff blinked back tears. He hated seeing his baby like this. He carefully climbed on to the bed and curled up next to Randy. "Why is this crap always happening to us?" he asked quietly. "Why can't everyone just leave us alone?"

His cell phone rang, startling him. Who was calling him at three in the morning? "Hello?"

"Jeff it's me," Mark said. His voice was barely above a whisper.

Jeff's eyes widened. "Poppa Mark? What's wrong?"

"It's the chemo. I can't take this anymore. I know it's supposed to make me better but I just feel worse. I can't take it."

Jeff bit his lip. He had never heard Mark talk this way before. It was like the big man was breaking. "I'm sorry. Is there anything I can do?"

"Make me think of something else for awhile," Mark replied. "Talk to me, take my mind off this shit before I go completely insane."

So Jeff did just that. He told Mark everything about Tomko, X and Randy getting poisoned. He knew there wasn't anything Mark could do, but he talked about it anyway.

Mark sighed as soon as he was done. "Jesus Christ Jeff. I think you need to schedule a surgery to get that psycho magnet of yours removed. This is starting to get ridiculous."

Jeff somehow managed to chuckle bitterly. "Believe me, I would if I could. First it was Russ, Christian and Adam; now it's X and Tomko. I don't know what to do anymore. It seems like every time things start to get better, somebody comes along and tries to ruin it. And not only that, but Randy always gets hurt too." He glanced at his sleeping lover. "Maybe he would be better off without me."

"Don't you say that!" Mark scolded him. "Don't you even think that! Randy can't live without you and you can't live without him. We all know that. Look Jeff, shit is always going to happen. The only thing we can do is hang on to the people we love and endure it."

"But what if he dies because of me?" Jeff asked. His lip was starting to tremble. "I won't be able to live with myself if that happened."

"Jeff please don't do anything you're going to regret," Mark begged. "I know you want to protect Randy, but thinking he's better off without you is just stupid."

Jeff nodded. He knew that already. "You're right."

"Like usual," Mark added with a chuckle. "Crap, Glenn's up. I've got to talk to him. He's been such a worrier lately."

"Bye Mark," Jeff said. He hung up the phone and was startled to see that not only were Randy's eyes were opened, but the breathing tube had been pulled out.

"Don't leave me," Randy said hoarsely. It sounded like it was taking a large effort just to get the words out. "Don't let X scare you away from me. Don't let him win."

Jeff smiled and snuggled up closer to Randy. "I won't," he assured him. "I'm not going to let you go anywhere. Nobody's taking you without a hell of a fight."

Randy managed a small smile. "That's good." He closed his eyes. "I feel like shit."

"You got poisoned honey. You're not going to be feeling okay for awhile." Jeff gave Randy a serious look. "Just promise me that you'll never drink something you've left unattended to for any amount of time ever again."

"I promise. Having seizures and spitting up blood and almost dying is not as fun as some people make it out to be."

Jeff smiled and kissed Randy softly. "Watching it wasn't much fun either." He rested his head on Randy's shoulder. Now that he was sure that his baby was at least somewhat okay, he wouldn't feel as bad about going to sleep. It had been one long day.

Little did he know that one of the longest days in his life was coming up very, very soon.


	9. Chapter 9

Randy was released from the hospital a couple of days later. He was still incredibly weak from the effects of the poison, so Jeff was going to take him back home to recover completely. But first they had to go back to the hotel to get their stuff.

"You still okay baby?" Jeff asked. He had wanted Randy to take a wheelchair from the hospital so he wouldn't have to walk that much. Randy had refused though, which hadn't turned out to be the greatest idea in the world. Jeff had to help him every step of the way and they had been forced to stop several times so he could rest.

"I'm fine," Randy said stubbornly. "I just--" His eyes widened suddenly. "Oh my God."

Jeff looked up and gasped. Their door was standing wide open and our hotel room had been completely trashed. "What the hell is this shit?" he said to nobody in particular. He helped Randy get into the room and then sat him down on the bed. All of their belongings had been tossed all over the place. It was difficult to tell if anything had been stolen. "Who in the hell would do this?"

The door closed and it caused them to turn around. Tomko was now standing between them and the door. "Don't worry, nothing was taken," he said with a smirk. "I just needed to get your attention."

"Get out!" Jeff yelled. He was so angry about seeing Tomko that he wasn't even feeling afraid at the moment. "You son of a bit--" He didn't see the tire iron Tomko was holding and got cracked in the head with it.

"Jeff!" Randy yelled. He got off the bed and went after Tomko. Now normally he probably would have been able to get Tomko down, but he just didn't have enough strength at the moment. Tomko easily grabbed him and tossed him so hard that he went crashing through the bathroom door.

Jeff groaned. Blood was flowing freely from the giant gash on the side of his head. He struggled to get up to his feet. Tomko was already waiting for him. Tomko picked him up and easily slammed him right down on the table. The table didn't break, and Jeff found himself being slammed down on it two more times before being tossed on to the bed.

_The phone_, Jeff thought to himself. _I have to get to the phone_. He tried to reach for it but Tomko grabbed it first. "You want to call for help?" Tomko sneered. "Well that's just too bad, because nobody is EVER going to hear from you again."

Jeff's eyes widened as the phone cord was wrapped tightly around his neck. He kicked his feet wildly and clawed desperately at the cord. Tomko was pulling as hard as possible and Jeff's vision began to go black. _Oh God, please don't let him hurt Randy_, he thought desperately. _Please let him leave Randy alone_.

Then, just when Jeff was sure he was about to die, Tomko let him go. Jeff gasped and yanked the cord off his neck. He rubbed his throat, wanting to talk but not able to. It was agony even _trying_ to talk. He turned around, expecting to see Randy standing over an unconscious Tomko. But what was really going on was X slitting Tomko's throat with a hunting knife.

Randy's pain filled moan caught X's attention. He let Tomko's body fall to the ground and started heading towards the bathroom. "No!" Jeff tried to shout, but it only came out in a croak. He forced himself to get up and he jumped from the bed and on to X. They both went crashing down to the ground. Jeff got to his feet first, and he ran into the bathroom and locked the door.

"Jeff," Randy gasped. "Tomko--"

"Is dead," Jeff said. He grabbed Randy and pulled him into the shower. "X killed him."

The bathroom door was violently kicked open. X came in and ripped the shower curtains down. "Move," he said to Jeff.

Jeff shook his head. He pushed Randy back into the corner and then placed himself between Randy and X. "No, you're not taking him from me! Leave us alone!"

X shook his head. "I can't do that. I love you."

"No you don't," Randy growled. "You don't love him. You're obsessed with him. There's a big difference between obsession and love, you freak."

X's face darkened. He pulled Jeff out of the way and tried to stab Randy. Randy managed to stop him long enough for Jeff to jump on X's back. The three of them struggled for a few minutes before X threw Jeff down to the floor and got Randy pinned up against the wall.

"WAIT!" Jeff screamed. It hurt his vocal cords to do it, but he couldn't let this happen. He couldn't let Randy get killed. It was time to do something he truly didn't want to do. "Please, I'll do anything you want! Just don't hurt him!"

X paused and looked back at Jeff. "If you come with me right now, he lives. If you don't, he dies and you come with me anyway."

"Jeff don't do this," Randy begged him. "You can't go with this crazy freak!"

"It's your choice Jeff," X said. He pointed the knife towards Randy's throat.

"I'll do it," Jeff said quickly. "Just please put the knife down."

There was a moment when Jeff truly didn't know if X was going to hold up his end of the bargain. But then X dropped the knife and knocked Randy out with one punch. Jeff yelled and tried to check on Randy, but X grabbed him and dragged him out of the room. Crying openly, Jeff let himself be taken. He was afraid if he resisted, X would go back and do to Randy what he did to Tomko. Jeff could not let that happen. Randy would not die because of him. He would do anything to protect his Randy.

Even if that meant going with a very deranged and obsessed stalker.


	10. Chapter 10

"Randy! Randy! You've got to wake up man!"

"Quit slapping him Matt! That's not helping anything."

"Well he needs to wake up! Tomko's dead, Jeff's gone and Randy might be the only one who knows what happened."

"Maybe we should dump water on him."

Randy opened his eyes to find Matt, Katie, John and Mickie standing over him. It only took about a second for everything to come rushing back to him. Once it did, his stomach turned violently. X had Jeff. X had taken his Jeff away to God knows where. "Jeff," he whispered. He stood up, ignoring his friends and the EMTs that were trying to help him. He was in the hallway outside the room now. There was yellow police tape blocking the doorway of the room now. "X has Jeff," he said quietly.

Matt groaned as John and Mickie exchanged worried looks. "Oh no," Matt said. "How did this happen?"

Randy shook his head. "I don't know, it all happened so fast. We came back to our room and it was trashed. Tomko was here and he attacked us. Then the next thing I know, Jeff is saying X killed Tomko and then X came into the bathroom intending to kill me."

"Why didn't he?" Katie asked.

Randy looked down. "Jeff let X take him instead. I tried to talk him out of it, but X had a knife pointed at me and it made Jeff--" He bit his lip and shook his head. "I shouldn't have let this happen. I should have tried harder to stop it. I should have--"

John interrupted Randy by shaking him violently. "You need to stop blaming yourself," the Doctor of Thuganomics ordered. "You did not let this happen. X used you to get to Jeff and it worked. Now we have to use the fingerprints from the knife to get to X. We have got to find out who in the hell we're really looking for so we can find Jeff."

"But what if the fingerprints aren't any help? What do we do then?"

"That's when you do some digging into some family history."

Everybody turned around and saw Tommy Dreamer standing there. "What the hell are you doing here?" Randy asked.

Tommy shrugged. "I saw the cop cars outside and came to investigate. I heard you guys talking about a guy name X who now has Jeff. Now I met a guy named X once. Is your X got a tattoo on his face of the letter X?"

Randy nodded. "Yeah. Tommy what do you know about this guy? I need to know everything right now."

"Hey all I know is that he's a certifiable loony who was kept in his mother's basement for like eight years. The only time I met him was when he ran away to Philadelphia for a little while. Raven took him under his wing and became his spiritual leader of sorts. If anyone knows where X would go, it's Raven." He gave Randy a serious look. "Raven's not just going to tell you this information for free though. He'll want something in return, and it's not going to be money. You're going to have to be willing to do absolutely anything."

"I'm already willing," Randy said. "I'll do anything to save Jeff."

XXXXXXXX

Jeff felt like he was trapped in some sort of horror movie or something. He had been stripped completely naked, and his hands were bound to a set of chains that were hanging from the ceiling. X was standing in front of him, running his hands all over his body. He shuddered at the feel of those hands. They were not like Randy's hands. They were too rough and clumsy.

"I've been waiting a long time for this," X whispered. He tucked a strand of Jeff's hair behind his head. "Do you have any idea how hard it was to restrain myself for all these years? It was more than I could stand sometimes."

Jeff turned away. He couldn't stand to look at X. But looking at the walls weren't much better because they were filled with pictures of him. Every single space was covered with pictures. Some of them were actually private photos that could have only been taken by somebody who had been watching him. It clearly showed that X was not fucking around when he said he wanted Jeff.

X forced Jeff to look back at him. "I asked you a question Jeff. Why won't you answer me?"

"Go to hell," Jeff snapped. He sounded a lot braver than he actually felt. The truth was, he was absolutely convinced that he was going to die in this cold, dark basement. He was going to die without ever seeing Randy again. It was not a pleasant feeling.

X chuckled. "You've got some fire in you. I like that." He kissed Jeff roughly, nearly choking the younger Hardy with his tongue. Jeff tried to resist but X was stronger than he was. _Somebody help me,_ Jeff thought desperately._ Somebody please help me_.

"Alexander! What the hell are you doing?"

X quickly stepped away from Jeff and looked down at his feet. A small woman that had to be at least fifty came barging down the stairs. "I'm playing with my Jeff Momma," X explained.

X's mom looked infuriated. "Playing with your Jeff? I thought I told you that this bullshit had to stop! I told you that I was tired of moving because you kept killing your obsessions when they don't love you back." She stopped and examined Jeff with her beady eyes. They widened when she actually recognized him. "Wait a minute," she said. An evil smile appeared on her face. "Alex, on second thought, you did a good thing here. I've been meaning to have a little talk with this bastard for awhile now. Go get the branding iron."

X shook his head. "No Momma. He's mine to play with. You have to get your own."

"Alexander Lee Copeland, do not argue with me!"

Copeland? Jeff's heart nearly stopped when he heard that last name. The situation was suddenly much, much uglier. "Oh God no," he moaned. "X, you're Adam's…"

"Half brother," Mrs. Copeland said. "And I'm Adam's mother, and I will make you pay for taking my sweet baby away from me."


	11. Chapter 11

Tommy drove Randy and Matt to Raven's house. The others had wanted to come but Tommy believed that Raven would be more helpful with the two people that cared about Jeff the most. "Now I'll try to make him be cooperative but I can't make any promises."

Matt nodded. He had a dark expression on his face. "I know. I've met Raven before. I know what he's like."

"I'm mostly saying this for Randy's benefit."

Randy knocked on the door as hard as he could. He had heard rumors about Raven before. He didn't come up in a lot of conversations, but there was a general agreement about him being a pretty sick and twisted individual. Randy didn't care though. If going to Raven was how he was going to find Jeff, then that was what he was going to do.

When Raven finally answered the door, he only looked mildly surprised to see them. "What do you want Dreamer?" he asked.

"We need to find X," Tommy answered. "You remember your old buddy X, don't you?"

"Of course I do. But why would I tell you where he is?"

"He has my brother," Matt explained. "He took Jeff."

Raven smirked. "Well then, since it's an emergency, I guess I better let you in."

Randy went in first. He did not take his eyes off of Raven for a second. There was something about the older man that he did not like at all. It was hard to put his finger on what exactly it was, but he knew he didn't trust this guy at all.

"So X took poor little Jeff," Raven said as he led them to the living room. "That's really too bad. I kind of liked Jeff." He sat down on the couch. "Of course, I don't see why you're wasting your time with me. I still consider X to be a very loyal member of my flock. Give me one good reason about why I should tell you where he is."

"Jeff's life is in danger," Randy growled. "X tried to kill me and he killed Tomko. Now he has Jeff and God knows what's happening to him."

Raven snorted. "Yeah, especially with X's Mommy Dearest on the anti Jeff Hardy bandwagon."

Matt frowned. "What does X's mom have to do anything?"

"She was Adam's mom too. X and Adam were half brothers. Didn't you know that?"

Randy's heart sank. This whole situation suddenly just got worse, which was something he thought could not happen. "Raven please!" he begged. "I'll do anything you want, just tell us where X is."

Raven studied him carefully. "You really do love Jeff, don't you?"

"More than anything in the world," Randy said with a nod.

Raven got up and left the room for a minute. When he came back, he had a piece of paper in his hand. "That's where you'll find him. Consider this a favor, since I'm going to give you what you want first. But remember one thing Randy Orton: I always cash in on my favors. Don't you ever forget that for a second."

Randy nodded. Normally he would worry about what the hell that meant, but there was no time for that. He had to save Jeff.

XXXXXXX

Jeff was in agony. Every square inch of his body hurt. Mrs. Copeland wouldn't relent with her torture. First there had been the branding iron. Then there had been the knife. Now she had a bullwhip. No wonder Adam and X had both turned out to be total nutcases. With a mother like her, there was no way any of her kids had a chance.

"Did he scream like you?" Mrs. Copeland asked. She cracked the whip across Jeff's back, making him yelp. "Did my Adam scream as you murdered him?"

Jeff shook his head. "It wasn't murder," he protested. "Self defense is not murder."

She hit him in the face with the whip. "Liar!" she hissed. "Anything my Adam did to you was because you deserved it! You murdered him and you know it!"

"Momma stop it," X growled. He looked like he was torn between fear and rage for his own mother.

Mrs. Copeland turned around and hit him with the whip. "Shut up, you worthless piece of trash! God, I don't know why I put up with you! Even Christian was a better son than you and he was only my worthless piece of shit's husband!"

X's face darkened and Jeff found himself wanting to back away in fear. X looked positively deranged when he was angry. Mrs. Copeland must have realized she had gone too far, because she immediately started to do damage control. "Alex, sweetheart, I'm sorry, you know I didn't mean it."

It was too late to make things better though. X grabbed his mom by the throat and started to strangle her. Jeff closed his eyes so he wouldn't have to watch, but he couldn't block out the choking and gasping noises she made as she died. _Oh God, please help me_, he thought desperately. _Please let somebody come and save me from this psycho._

"It's okay Jeff," X said quietly. He stroked Jeff's face with his fingertips, either not noticing or caring about how Jeff flinched at his touch. "She's gone now Jeff. You can open your eyes now."

Jeff opened his eyes reluctantly. Just looking at X scared him. "Please let me go," he begged. "I just want to go home."

X frowned. "This IS your home now Jeff. Can't you see that? We belong together. You're mine, always and forever."

Jeff burst into tears. "I'm not yours!" he protested. "I'm Randy's! Please, I love Randy."

X didn't say anything for a minute. He just let Jeff cry a little bit. "I think I know what the real problem is," he finally said. He let Jeff out of the chains and started carrying him upstairs. "You're scared of our first time together. But don't worry doll--we'll change that."

Jeff's eyes widened. _Oh no_, he groaned internally. He knew exactly what X wanted to do now. _Randy, if you ever are going to find me, now would be the time to do it. I can't put up with this pain all over again._


	12. Chapter 12

Jeff kept kicking and struggling as X carried him upstairs to a bedroom. A part of him was screaming for him to beg X not to do this, but his mouth wasn't working right yet. It was like the words were stuck somewhere behind his throat. Besides, he doubted begging would do too much good anyway. X was determined to have him, and if a miracle didn't happen soon, X was going to get him.

"I had to kill her," X said as he dumped Jeff down on the bed. He straddled Jeff's waist and pinned his hands above his head so he couldn't get away. "You understand that, don't you? She wasn't going to stop until she killed you. I couldn't let that happen. You're mine Jeff. The only person who can make you go away is me. You understand that, right?"

Oh God, X was about as crazy as Adam was. Maybe he was even crazier because he seemed to have no idea how fucked up what he was doing truly was. Jeff tried to get out of X's grip. "Please," he finally begged. "Please don't rape me."

X frowned. "I'm not going to rape you. We're going to make love."

Jeff shook his head. "No we're not. I don't love you. I'm sorry but I don't. And I don't want to have sex or anything like that. So whatever you do to me, it'll be rape and I can't take that again." He was crying openly now. "Please, if you really care about me at all, don't do this."

X sighed. "Jeff, I don't think you're understanding something. You do love me. Deep down inside, you've always loved me. Randy's poisoned your mind so you can't see it, but it's there."

"X you're not listening!" Jeff said desperately. "I don't love you! Whatever feelings you think I have for you, you made them up in your mind."

X wasn't listening to a word Jeff was saying. He forced Jeff's legs apart and placed himself in between them. "I just have to make you feel it," he muttered. "It'll all be better once you feel it." He forced himself into Jeff, making the younger Hardy scream in pain. _Block it out_, Jeff tried to tell himself. _Block it out and focus on anything else. You'll go insane if you don't._ So Jeff focused on Randy and prayed that he would come for him. He prayed that Randy would come and save him.

After what felt like forever, X was done. He did not seem happy about things though. "You really don't feel it, do you?" he asked.

Jeff shook his head. His lower body ached terribly but he tried to keep blocking it out.

X sighed. "Well that's too bad." He got off Jeff and opened one of his dresser drawers. "Because I was really hoping I wouldn't have to do this." He pulled out a knife and lunged at Jeff with it. Jeff rolled off the bed just in time, and X ended up stabbing the bed. Jeff got to his feet and ran out of the bedroom. He hurt everywhere from the rape and the torture, but he ignored it. A little pain was not going to stop him from running the hell away from the psycho with the knife.

The front door was violently kicked open as he was running down the stairs. Randy, Matt and Tommy Dreamer came in, looking very ready for a fight. "Randy!" Jeff yelled. His legs nearly gave out from under him and he almost fell face first. Luckily, Randy was able to catch him before that happened.

"Jeff," Randy said in relief. He held Jeff tightly, kissing every part of his face. "Oh baby, what did he do to you?"

Jeff just shook his head and buried his face in Randy's chest. He didn't want to talk about it. Not right now anyway. Not only was it horrible, but X was still upstairs. They had to get the hell out of there.

"Bastard!" Matt yelled. There was a loud crash and Jeff snuck a peek. X had jumped over the railing and had been met by an angry Matt and Tommy. The two of them tackled the psycho to the ground, causing the knife to go flying out of his hands. It landed right at Randy's feet. "Stay behind me," Randy ordered. He let Jeff go and picked up the knife. "Let him go!" he said to Matt and Tommy.

They did just that, and as X lunged at Randy, he received his own knife right in his heart. Randy pushed the body away and backed away from it. "You can poison me all you want, but you DO NOT fuck with my Jeff," he declared. He pulled Jeff back into his arms. "I think I'm starting to feel like myself again."

Jeff clung to Randy tightly. It felt great to even just be seeing him again. For awhile there, he truly believed he had been going to die before Randy got to him. "That's great honey," he said slowly. "But I'm not feeling so great right now. I think I need to go to the hospital."

Randy looked down at Jeff's very battered body. "Oh baby, I'm so sorry. We tried to get here as fast as we could…"

"It's okay," Jeff assured him. Everything that had happened hadn't truly sunk in yet, so he was feeling amazingly numb. Of course he knew that he was going to feel everything in a little bit and it would feel like he was in hell. But that would be later. Right now, he liked the numbness. "Just somebody go get my clothes so we can get the hell out of here. I really don't want to be here anymore."


	13. Chapter 13

Randy was really getting tired of spending time in the hospital. He had seen enough of them to last a life time. But Jeff needed to stay overnight for at least one night so he wasn't going to leave his love's side again. He felt bad enough already. Jeff had been raped and tortured before he had managed to save him. Matt had tried to assure him that they couldn't have gotten there any sooner than they had, but it still didn't make him feel better. It didn't change what had happened to Jeff.

"Randy," Jeff said quietly. His eyes were closed and Randy had thought he was asleep.

"I'm here," Randy assured him. "I'm right here baby."

Jeff scooted over. "Lay with me. You're too far away."

Randy climbed into the bed and Jeff snuggled right up to him. "That's better," Jeff said sleepily. "I don't want you going away."

"I'm not going anywhere. I've already talked to the police. It doesn't sound like I'm going to get charged with anything."

"Yeah, but there's all kinds of psychos out there. Who knows who's going to come after us next?"

Randy frowned. "Jeff, what are you saying?"

Jeff shrugged. "In case you haven't noticed, I kind of tend to attract men of the more psychotic persuasion. Russ, Christian, Adam, Tomko, X--I think I'm a serious psycho magnet."

"You are not a psycho magnet. If you were a psycho magnet, that would mean I was a psycho. And I'm a lot of things, but psycho is not one of them."

"I know that, but I mean, come on. How many more times does this shit have to happen before we realize something funky is going on?"

"Well what do you want to do if you're right?" Randy asked. "What are we supposed to do if you truly are a psycho magnet? It's not something we can actually fix. We just have to deal with it as it happens."

"You won't leave me?" Jeff asked quietly.

Randy kissed the top of his head. "Never."

"I'm sorry I let him--"

"You didn't let him do anything. Don't you dare start blaming yourself for what he did. It's not your fault. We've been over these issues before." Randy kissed Jeff's head again. "Now stop worrying and get some rest."

"Uh, I think it's a little late for that," Matt said. He came in and was closely followed by Katie, Miz, Morrison, Lillian, John, Mickie, Ted, Cody, Phil, Kofi and Tommy. They were armed with flowers and enough candy to feed an army.

"Pixie Sticks!" Jeff exclaimed. He tried to get up but then stopped. "OW, okay that was a bad idea."

"Sit down you schmuck," Morrison said. He handed Jeff the Pixie Sticks. "Don't go hurting yourself worse than you already are."

Randy rolled his eyes. "You guys are going to give him a sugar rush."

"Well maybe he deserves one," Phil said. He dumped a handful of Snickers on Jeff's lap. "And we figured if we get him hyped up on sugar, we could avoid the part where he acts like an asshole after going through something traumatic."

Jeff glared at him. "I do not act like an asshole every time I go through--" he stopped and thought about what he was saying. "Okay, maybe I have done that in the past. But I don't want to do that anymore. Last time that led to Randy storming out and then getting raped. And I'm against people raping my Randykins."

"Jeff!" Randy whined. "You can't call me that when people are around!"

Cody patted Randy's shoulder. "I'm guessing he's on quite a bit of morphine right now."

Randy nodded. "Add the three Pixie Sticks he just downed in thirty seconds and things are going to get very scary very soon."

"Well it's your people's fault for giving him the damn things in the first place. You should know better than that by now."

Everybody turned around and saw Glenn pushing a wheelchair bound Mark into the room. Mark had lost quite a bit of weight since they had last seen him and he was wearing a wig that looked his old hair.

"Poppa Mark," Jeff said. He held his arms out like he was a baby or something.

Mark pushed himself out of the wheelchair (against Glenn's protests of course) and hugged Jeff. "Hey kid," he said quietly. "You doing okay?"

"I guess," Jeff replied so quietly that even Randy barely heard him. "I'm just trying not to think about it right now."

"Yeah, well don't go repressing all this shit. You know that's not healthy."

"I know."

"Mark, would you please sit back down?" Glenn pleaded. "The doctor said your pushing yourself too hard as it is."

Mark rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well, what does that jackass know anyway?" But despite that declaration, he sat back down anyway. "Phil called me and told me what happened. I had to bitch at Glenn for an hour until he drove out here."

Glenn shook his head. "The man gets very annoying when he's worried."

Ted patted him shoulder sympathetically. "There there. Have a Kit Kat. You'll feel better."

A nurse came in to check on Jeff. Randy was immediately startled by Jeff's reaction. His whole body began to shake violently and he started hyperventilating. "Jeff?" Randy said slowly. "Baby what is it?"

"Don't touch me!" Jeff yelled as the nurse reached for his bandages. He nearly jumped off the damn bed. "Get away!"

The nurse recoiled like she had been shot or something. "Mr. Hardy, I'm not going to hurt you."

Jeff didn't seem to be listening. He just clung to Randy. "She looks like her Randy," he whispered. "She looks like her."

Randy's eyes widened. "Mrs. Copeland? Is that who she looks like?"

Jeff nodded. He looked like he was near tears. Matt quickly whispered something to the nurse and got her out of the room. Everybody else looked very uncomfortable. Randy held Jeff tightly, trying to provide him any amount of comfort he could.

"Oh shit," Katie suddenly cursed. She ran into the bathroom as fast as she could. Ten seconds later they could hear her puking.

Phil grinned. "Who wants to bet she's pregnant?"


	14. Chapter 14

_Jeff was laying in a bloody heap on the cold concrete floor. He tried to sit up but X kicked him back down. Adam, Christian, Mrs. Copeland and Russ were also there. He had no idea where he was or how he had gotten there. All he knew was that he was absolutely terrified. He did not want to be here at all._

_"You think Randy killing me changes anything at all?" X asked. "I got what I desired from you. I took your body and we were one. That won't ever change."_

_"Oh quit being so sentimental X," Adam snapped. "Everyone but Mom here has had a turn with Jeff. He's the community whore."_

_"I am not," Jeff protested._

_Adam smirked. "Oh, you're not? Then how come you keep getting raped? It can only be not your fault so many times before you have to start to wonder what you're doing to cause it."_

_"And if you don't believe him, just look at the brand on your back," Christian added. "Once a slut, always a slut."_

_Jeff shook his head. "Shut up, you're not real. You guys aren't here. This is just a dream."_

_Russ pounced on him and pinned his arms down above his head. "A dream is a wish your heart makes." He kissed Jeff roughly and bit his lips. "This is your reality._

Jeff somehow managed to not scream as he woke up, which was really surprising. He took several deep breaths to try to calm his racing heartbeat and his shaking body. He had been home for two days and the nightmares were back in full force. Every bad thing that had been done to him was playing itself over and over again in his mind. It just wouldn't stop.

He got out of bed without waking Randy and went downstairs. His whole body was shaking, but now it was out of anger. Why couldn't all the bullshit stop? Why did people have to keep hurting him like this? He tried to be a good person. He really did. What in the world had he done to deserve all this shit?

"Fuck!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. He grabbed the lamp and smashed it against the wall. "Son of a fucking whore!" He picked up a vase and threw it on the coffee table. The vase shattered on impact but the table stood tall. That only pissed him off even more and the next thing he knew, he was jumping on the table and trying to stomp it to death.

"What in the hell are you doing?" Randy asked. All the noise had woken him up. "Why are you smashing everything?"

The coffee table broke under Jeff's assault and he fell right on his ass. Randy tried to help him up but he wasn't having any of it. "Get away from me!" Jeff yelled. He pushed himself away from the remains of the table and scooted backed towards the wall. "Leave me alone!"

Randy looked absolutely bewildered. "Jeff what's wrong?"

"What's wrong? What's wrong? What the fuck do you think is wrong? I can't fucking sleep! I'm fucking having nightmares every time I close my fucking eyes and I can't take it anymore! I can't fucking do it!" Jeff yanked out a chunk of his own hair and banged his head against the wall.

"Jeff, I know you're upset…"

"Oh save your shit Randy. How could you possibly know what the fuck I'm feeling? You don't have another rape to add to the fucking list. Shit, I've lost track of how many times this keeps happening to me." Jeff got up and stormed off into the kitchen. "At least you've got it easy," he told Randy. "All you've got to do is clean up the mess that's left each and every time."

Randy glared at him. "You think this is easy for me? Because let me tell you right now, it's not. I hate seeing you in so much pain. It fucking tears me up inside." He shook his head. "And for you to stand there and even begin to think I have it easy…well fuck you Jeff. " He sat down and put his head on the table.

Jeff glanced at the knives that were sitting on the corner. It would be so easy to grab one right now and cut his wrists. Hopefully he would cut deeply enough and make all of the pain and bullshit stop. But as he was reaching for one of the knives, he had a flashback to something Mark told him once. It had been after Russ, Christian and Adam's brutal attack, and it had been brutally honest, which was what Jeff had needed to snap out of his suicidal rage a little bit.

_"You kill yourself, you kill all of us. Randy, Matt, Gil, me, Glenn, everybody that loves and cares about you--all of us will die if you do. Maybe not physically, but I guarantee you that we will be dead inside. We care about you more than you will ever know. We want you to rise above the shitty things that people have done to you, because deep down inside, we know you have the strength to do it."_

Jeff sighed and put his hand back down to his side. He couldn't do that to everybody, especially Randy. "Randy?" he said slowly.

"What?" Randy snapped. It sounded like he was crying. "You going to yell at me some more for no fucking reason?"

"No. I was just wondering if you can move the knives. They're making me feel like I want to…well let's just say we better get them away from me."

Randy immediately caught on to what Jeff was saying. He quickly got up and Jeff looked away so he could hide the knives. Once he came back, they both just stood there for a moment. Neither of them were quite sure what to say.

"Let's go back to bed," Randy finally suggested. He looked really worn out. "We can talk about this shit in the morning."

"Technically it is morning. It's three in the morning."

"Jeff, please don't be a smartass right now."

"Sorry. And I'm sorry about the yelling."

"Are you sorry about our coffee table?"

"No. That thing was ugly anyway. Remind me to hit Matt for getting us that thing."


	15. Chapter 15

Randy had the worlds largest headache. Between Jeff's episode from the previous night and planning the wedding, he felt like he was about to snap. He buried his face in his hands. Jeff, Katie and Matt were trying to do the seating arrangements for the reception. They had a list of the guests in front of them, which showed Randy that they knew way too many people. Between the wrestlers in the WWE, some from TNA, friends outside the business and some members of their families (more of Jeff's were coming than Randy's), this thing was going to either turn into a the biggest party of the year, or the biggest disaster of the year. Randy hadn't decided which yet.

"We cannot put Phil near Miz and Morrison," Katie told Jeff. "Don't you remember what happened at our reception?"

Jeff nodded. "Yeah. Phil thought he was the Gingerbread Man and he started running around like an idiot. I thought it was funny."

"It actually was kind of funny," Matt admitted. "If we put those three dummys together, we won't have to pay for any kind of entertainment. They'll provide it to us for free."

"What do you think Randy?" Katie asked.

"I think I need an aspirin right now," Randy replied. He rubbed his temples gently. "This shit is giving me a headache."

Jeff frowned. "Well it's nice to know planning our wedding gives you a headache. I hate to see what's going to happen the actual day of the damn thing."

"I just don't see why it matters where people sit!" Randy complained. "Let them sit wherever the hell they want. We've got a week until this damn thing takes place and we've got catering, cake and housing issues to take care of. People are going to start arriving in about five days and where in the hell are they going to stay? Cameron has like one motel. That's not going to be enough."

"Well Mark, Glenn, John, Mickie, Phil and Kofi are staying with us," Jeff said. "Ted, Cody, Morrison, Miz and Lillian are staying with Matt and Katie. My family is staying with my dad. Shannon and Shane are going to house some of the other wrestlers. Some are going to the motel and some are going to stay in Raleigh and just drive here the morning of the wedding."

Well that was lovely. As much as Randy loved his friends, staying in one house with a group of him scared him to death. They were fucking crazy. His cell phone went off and he answered it. "Hello?"

"Hey it's Tommy."

Randy frowned. Why would Dreamer be calling him. And why did he sound like he was about to deliver some bad news? "Hey. What's up?"

"I was uh…talking to Raven this morning. He told me something that he uh…probably should have brought up sooner."

"Is it about the favor?" Randy asked. He looked at Matt. Matt's eyes widened in understanding. Katie and Jeff just looked confused.

Tommy sighed. "No. It's worse. It's about X."

"What about him?" Randy didn't want to know though. He wanted to hang up right then and there. He sensed that it was going to be very bad.

"X…he um…he had AIDS."

Randy was wrong. This wasn't bad; this was fucking HORRIBLE news. "No," he moaned. "No, no no! Damn it Tommy! Tell me you're joking right now! Tell me this is a fucking sick ass joke."

"I wish I could," Tommy said regretfully. "I thought Raven was just fucking with me. But Sandman's new girlfriend is a nurse and she checked it out for me. X did have AIDS. I'm sorry dude, but you guys needed to know. You need to get Jeff tested."

"Oh God," Randy whispered as he hung up the phone. He didn't know what to do. This was not the news they needed right now.

"What's wrong?" Jeff asked. "What favor did Tommy need?"

Randy shook his head. "It's not Tommy that needs the favor. It's Raven, but he's not cashing it in yet."

"We had to go to Raven to save you from X," Matt quickly explained to Jeff.

"Oh," Jeff said. "Then what's wrong then? You look like Tommy gave you a death sentence."

_No, it's worse than that_, Randy thought to himself. "Raven told Tommy something about X. Something we didn't know before. Tommy checked out the information and it's true."

"What information?" Jeff asked quietly. He looked directly into Randy's eyes. "Come on Randy, you're really scaring me. What did Tommy find out about X?"

Randy looked down. He didn't want to say it. He couldn't bear to say it, but he did. "He found out that X had AIDS."

The room went deathly quiet. Jeff, Katie and Matt just stared at Randy. Nobody said anything for several minutes. Then Jeff stood up slowly. He looked like he was in a state of shock. "I have to go check the mail," he mumbled quietly. He walked out of the room, his legs shaking the entire time.

Katie sighed and ran her hand through her hair. "We need to get him tested," she said quietly.

"AIDS won't show up on test for several months," Matt said. He looked as shocked as Jeff had. "It's only been a few days. It won't mean anything yet."

Randy put his head on the table. "What are we going to do now?" he asked. "How are we supposed to fix this?"

Katie and Matt didn't say anything. They didn't have the answers to those questions. There was nobody in the world who could answer those questions for him.


	16. Chapter 16

Jeff was sitting up in one of his trees in his backyard. Randy and Matt had made several attempts to talk to him but he kept running away from them. He didn't want to talk to them right now. He believed he would break down completely if he talked to them. Then they would break down, and it would all just be a mess.

"It's not fair," Jeff moaned. He hit the back of his head against the tree. Why did this have to happen to him? Why couldn't anything go right for him? It was a week before his wedding and he was handed a possible death sentence. Sure he knew that there was a chance X hadn't passed the disease to him and there were medicines that would keep him alive if he did have it now. But he knew that the disease would eventually kill him, no matter what he did to keep himself alive. And he didn't want to die. He had wanted that once, but not anymore. He wanted to live.

And what about Randy? Jeff didn't want to pass the disease to him. He closed his eyes and moaned. He knew Randy would say that he would willingly risk the disease for Jeff, but Jeff couldn't live with that. He couldn't put Randy at risk like that. And what about his job? If he did test positive for AIDS, there was no way he could keep being a wrestler. What if he bled during a match and his blood infected somebody?

Jeff climbed down from the tree. Maybe he did have to talk to somebody; maybe it just had to be somebody besides Randy or Matt. He stuffed his hands down his pockets and ran to his dad's house. Gil was outside putting some tools away. "Jeff what's wrong?" Gil asked.

Jeff looked down. Tears were already starting to fall out of his eyes. "Daddy I'm scared. I just found out X had AIDS."

Gil stopped in his tracks. He sighed and pulled Jeff into his arms. Jeff broke down and started sobbing loudly. "Daddy I don't want a die. I don't want to be sick."

"Shush that talk now," Gil said. "Do you know for sure that YOU have it?"

"Well…no."

"Then don't start talking about being sick and dying. You're already working yourself into hysterics."

Jeff pulled himself away. "Don't I have the right to be fucking terrified?"

"Yes, I didn't say you didn't. But if there's still hope that you're not sick, you need to latch on to that. You need to find strength from that, or you've already lost the battle."

Jeff sighed and ran his hands through his hair. He was trying to stop his crying but it wasn't working very well. "I just don't know what I'm going to do. What about work? What about Randy?"

"Well what about Randy?" Gil asked. "Does he not want to marry you anymore because of this?"

"No, but maybe he shouldn't want to. Maybe I should call it off. Maybe if I am sick I should just let him go."

"Okay, now you're just being foolish. You and Randy love each other more than life itself. I've seen the way you two are together, and I know you've both had your hearts set on this wedding. You want to call of the wedding because you may be sick? Jeff, people get sick. They get sick, they get in accidents and sometimes they die. It happened to me and your mother and unfortunately, it might happen to you and Randy. But I know for a fact that you leaving Randy to spare him the pain and the disease is only going to hurt both of you worse than you probably realize right now."

"So what am I supposed to do?" Jeff asked. He knew that his dad was right, but it didn't really help his confusion and his fear.

"Well I can't answer that son," Gil said. "That's something you need to talk to Randy about."

Jeff nodded. "Okay. Thanks Dad." He turned around and walked back home. Randy was waiting for him on the front porch. It looked like he had been crying.

"Where did you go?" Randy asked quietly.

"Dad's house," Jeff answered. He sat down next to Randy.

"Did he say anything helpful?"

"He said we should decide what to do together."

Randy snorted. "Well that's great, except for I don't know what to do right now."

Jeff rested his head against Randy's. Between talking to his dad and just being here with Randy, he suddenly knew what he wanted to do. "I say we have the wedding, get me tested and just deal with everything when the results come back."

Randy turned his head in surprise. "Are you serious? Are you sure you don't want to put the wedding off for a little bit?"

Jeff shook his head. "What good would that do? If I'm dying from an incurable disease then we don't have any time to waste." Jeff tried to keep his tone as light as possible, but his voice cracked anyway.

"Don't even talk about dying on me Hardy. I will punt your head into next week." Randy was having trouble even getting those words out.

"Sorry." Jeff snuggled up closer to Randy. The two of them sat there for a long time in silence. Maybe more needed to be said, but they couldn't bring themselves to do it at the moment. Jeff knew he might start crying again and he might not be able to stop. So he focused his mind on the wedding. An event that seemed so impossible and scary to plan suddenly seemed like a welcome relief. _The possibility of having an killer disease really snaps things into perspective_, Jeff thought bitterly. _Too bad it had to happen to me._


	17. Chapter 17

The morning of the wedding had Randy terrified out of his wits. Everybody came over early to help set things up and mingle, so the house was impossibly crowded. Matt, Mark and Shannon were keeping Jeff upstairs, insisting that it was bad luck for Jeff and Randy to look at each other before the wedding. Randy was camped out in one of the downstairs guest bedrooms with Ted and Cody, determined not to puke or collapse under the weight of his frayed nerves. "Are you sure this looks okay?" Randy asked as he adjusted his tuxedo for the hundredth time.

Cody rolled his eyes. "You look fine. Quit worrying."

They heard a loud crash coming from the hallway. "What was that?" Randy asked frantically. "What was that? Did somebody get hurt? Oh God, we're going to have to take somebody to the hospital!"

Ted slapped him across the face. "Calm down Randy! Just chill the fuck out for two seconds. I'll go see what happened."

Randy sat down on the bed as soon as Ted left. "I knew we should have just eloped," he muttered. "I can't deal with a big wedding like this."

Cody glared at him. "No, you shouldn't have eloped. Everybody here is super excited about this wedding. We've been waiting for it forever. We would have killed you if you two had just eloped."

"You serious?"

"Yeah. You and Jeff have your baggage, but you two are the couple that everybody cheers for. When I look at you two, I see the definition of true love. And let me tell you, it's a beautiful fucking thing."

"Really?" Randy asked.

"Yeah, really," Cody said with a nod. "So quit worrying so much about this wedding. Sure, it could potentially turn into a disaster because over half the people on the guest list are idiots. But that doesn't mean anything. You and Jeff have faced worse things than a group of idiots. So calm down, quit freaking out, and let's just enjoy today."

Ted came back in the room. "Uh…I don't know how to say this, so I'm just going to get straight to the point. Eric Young ran through the back doors. AJ Styles accidentally scared him, he ran through the door, there's glass and blood everywhere. It's just a mess."

Randy sighed. "Damn it. I knew we shouldn't have invited the TNA crowd. Can you take care of it for me Ted?"

"Lillian's got things under control. She's taking care of it right now."

"Good. The last thing we need is for everybody to panic and make Jeff freak out."

XXXXXXX

"I am freaking out man!" Jeff informed Matt, Shannon and Mark. He was pacing back and forth all over the room. "I can't do this. I can't have a wedding. There are people here. They're going to be watching. What if I trip and fall? What if I screw up the vows? What if God just strikes me dead with a bolt of lightning or something?"

"That is not going to happen," Matt tried to assure him. "You need to calm down."

"Yeah," Shannon said. "This is going to be the best wedding ever, even if we have to kill all the guests just to make it happen."

Jeff wasn't comforted though. "Why did I agree to writing my own vows? Mark, read these for a minute and tell me how stupid they are."

Mark sighed. "Jeff, I've read the vows like five times already. I have cried each and every single time I've read them. They are beautiful and we will all be bawling like babies." He grabbed Jeff by the arms and gave him a good shake. "Now quit panicking before I slap some sense into you."

Jeff took a deep breath. "Okay." He sat down and tried to relax his body. His legs were shaking because he was so nervous. "Shannon, can you go downstairs and get me some weed from RVD?"

"Jeff! You are not smoking weed before your wedding!" Matt scolded.

"Yeah Jeff," Shannon said. "Save that for the reception."

"Shannon!"

"What? I'm just trying to make him feel better."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Randy shifted his weight from foot to foot. He was standing at the altar now with Ted and Cody by his side. They were his best men because he hadn't been able to decide which one to choose. "God, why is it so hot?" he asked. They were standing on top of the hill that was named Mount Imag-I, and the sun was beating down on his neck. "I can't take this shit."

"Dude, what did I tell you about relaxing?" Cody asked. "Chill the fuck out. You're going to be fine."

Randy was about to snap a reply when the wedding party began to make it's way towards the hill. There was Matt and Katie, Mark and Glenn, Phil and Kofi, and Mickie and John. Then everybody turned around as Gil walked Jeff down the aisle. Randy couldn't help but smile at Jeff. The poor guy looked as nervous as he felt.

Once Jeff and Gil had climbed up the hill, the priest began the ceremony. "Ladies and gentlemen, we're gathered here today to celebrate the union between Randall Keith Orton and Jeffery Nero Hardy. It is my understanding that the grooms have elected to read the vows they've written themselves. Randy, you can go first."

Randy took a deep breath as Ted handed him the ring. "Jeff," he said as he put the ring on Jeff's finger. "To be honest, I used to be an asshole most of the time. I used people without thinking or caring about their feelings. I'm not proud of the way I was. But then I met you, and things changed. You are the only man I've ever truly loved. You may not know this, but you are the strongest man I have ever known. You have gone through things that nobody else here can even imagine dealing with. There were times when I was scared I was going to lose you, and it made me fight harder to keep you. You are the love of my life, and I will fight to keep you if anything else tries to take you away again."

Jeff was blinking back his tears as he put the ring Matt handed him on Randy's finger. "When I first start dating you Randy, I couldn't understand why you were even bothering with me. I had been broken as a child by my uncle Russ and my relationship with Christian had made me believe that I was not worth loving at all. And even though you told me that you loved me hundreds of times, I couldn't allow myself to believe it for the longest time. It wasn't until the truth about what Russ did to me came out that I was able to allow myself to see that you truly meant everything you said. You stood by me and gave me the strength to confront Russ about everything he did to me. And even when I got attacked again, and I took my anger out on you, you stood by me. That meant more to me than you will ever know. You say that I'm the strongest person you know, but I wasn't strong before you. All the strength I have today is because of you. Without you, I know I wouldn't still be here today. Randy, I will love you till the day I die, no matter how soon or how far away that day might be."

There wasn't a dry eye anywhere by the time Jeff was done. Randy could barely see because of his own tears. He looked at the preacher. Even he was crying. "Well, if nobody objects, then I now pronounce the two of you married. You may now kiss your husband."

"Finally," Randy said, causing everyone around him to chuckle. He grabbed Jeff and kissed him passionately.

Jeff grinned. "I love you."

"I love you too," Randy said. He had not ever felt as happy as he did right then. He was so happy that he was even able to put the possibility of Jeff being sick out of his head for a little while. Sure it lingered there like a black cloud that wouldn't go away, but he wasn't going to acknowledge it. It would be time to do that soon enough.


	18. Chapter 18

Jeff tapped his foot in an effort to calm his nerves. The day had finally come. Today was the day he was getting his AIDS test results back. He and Randy were sitting in the waiting room of the doctor's office, not talking and trying to avoid the eyes of the other people. Matt had wanted to come with them, but today was Katie Lea's first ultrasound and he couldn't miss that. She was pregnant, just like Phil predicted back when Jeff was in the hospital. It was something the Straight Edge Superstar wouldn't let them forget.

"It's going to be okay honey," Randy assured him. "No matter what happens, it's going to be okay."

Jeff nodded. He was tempted to make some pessimistic remark to that, but he kept his mouth shut instead. He doubted that he could speak anyway. It felt like he was about to throw up or something.

Finally, a nurse came out to see them. "Mr. Hardy?"

"Yeah?" Jeff said shakily. Knowing his luck, the news he was about to hear was bad.

"Your test results came back negative."

That was all Jeff heard. Negative? He didn't have AIDS? Well he didn't see that one coming. He figured with how his luck usually went, he had been counting on actually having it.

"Oh thank God," Randy said in relief. He was smiling his first genuine smile all day.

Jeff let out a long breath and grabbed Randy's hand. Relieved could not describe Jeff's mood at the moment. It felt like a humongous weight had been taken off his chest. He barely noticed as Randy thanked the nurse and it wasn't until they were in the car and driving away that he snapped fully back into reality.

"So what do you want to do now Jeff?" Randy asked. "How do you want to celebrate this good news?"

"Let's have our first worry free sex since Tommy's phone call."

Randy rolled his eyes. "Well yeah, I knew that sex was going to be a part of this deal. We celebrate everything with sex. What I meant is, what else are we going to do to celebrate? You want to go out to dinner or something?"

Jeff shrugged. "We could."

"Just the two of us or do you want to have a big dinner with everybody?"

"Honey, I just want the sex right now. We can eat any other time."

Randy chuckled. "Okay, okay. I get it. You can't resist me. I wouldn't be able to resist me either if I was you."

Jeff rolled his eyes. "You are quite the egomaniac, you know that?" He bit his lip. There was something really important that he wanted to do, despite his jokes about the sex being more important than food. It was something he had thought about since the wedding, but he hadn't been sure about the right way to bring it up.

Randy immediately noticed the shift in Jeff's mood. "What is it babe? What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong. It's just that…I need to ask you something."

"Okay. Ask away."

"What do you think about kids?"

Randy did a double take. "You mean like kids in general?"

"No, I mean about having kids. What would you think about you and me adopting a kid or something?"

Randy grinned. "I say we do it."

Jeff's eyes widened. He hadn't expected Randy to agree so readily. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah. I've always wanted kids. Let's do it."

Jeff smiled. It was all coming together now. He and Randy were married, Mark was better, Mark and Katie were expecting a baby and now he and Randy were going to adopt a baby. For the first time in a long time, it felt like everything in his life was not only okay, but it was going to stay that way for good this time.

Raven lounged back in his chair. It was surprising how fast good news traveled among wrestlers, both current and retired. It had only taken him a matter of days to find out about Jeff and Randy's plans to adopt a baby. Originally, he had been planning on cashing his favor that Randy owed him before now, but for some reason, he had decided to wait. Now he was glad he waited, because he saw another opportunity in front of him. All he had to do was wait patiently, press the right buttons and, if necessary, use a little force to get what he wanted.

"I will get I want Randy Orton," he vowed. Nobody was around to hear it, but he still said it anyway. "You will give me what I want, one way or another. You killed my disciple X, and he will need to be replaced.

Quote the Raven, nevermore.


End file.
